NZ Newbie and a lighting issue

[NZ16v]

hey guys and gals, Alex here from Wellington, New Zealand.

I own two 16vs, a red/black P1 soon to become a two door track weapon-have stage2 cams, lotus throttle bodies, Haltech ECU, Xantia V6 brakes etc etc to go on, and a completely restored P2-full bottom/top end engine rebuild, interior refurb using donor car, full rust removal and respray, rebuilt fr/rear brakes, just needs a bit of attention to hydraulics,may have a leaking octopus(YAY!), and need a few new spheres hear and there.

My Dad was a citroen dealer for 40 odd years, and currently have another P1 16v, 2 2CVs, a L15, and a 1939 Buick in the stable. Previously have had a Big15 Hydraulique, 2 DS23 injections, a DS21 Pallas, a DS23 Hyd-Semi-Auto Wagon(only one in NZ), a GS Pallas, heaps of BXes, Heaps of XAntias, and a Saxo or two. SO the old man knows his way around these complicated but magnificent modes of vehicular transport!!!!

Firstly, i have looked through all relevant posts, but cant quite find what i need

Now, none of the interior lights work off the doors-but they do work from their own switches. I have several spare relays, and changing them with the old one mounted to the right above the glovebox yielded no results dammit, so i think thats out. Is there another relay somewhere, or a plug we are missing? We have had the entire heater unit out and refurbed, could we have dislodged something? Dad has checked the switches, but will clean em again tomorrow to be sure.

AND... after fiddling about getting a new 12v feed to the ABS(dont ask me what the previous owner did, but i wasnt goon rip the dash out to trace how he broke THAT wire!) we have suddenly lost all lighting-except for the bonnet and passengers rear door(?) to the 'door open' warning panel. Have swapped it over to ensure it isnt the unit, but i gave up trying to decipher the haynes thing, and Dad is missing his wiring diagram. Again, i think we have a loose wire/bung relay. Thje bloody thing worked when we first got the car back togethertoo!!!

ANY ideas would help, this car was off the road for a year, and only just drove it home tonight, so am getting REALLY sick of these little gremlins, as she is so close to being finished. She FLEW back to Wellington, got 100mph out a back road to a amtes place no problems.but these little problems take the shne off a great project. Any help would be fantastic.

Alex Falkner
Wellington,
New Zealand

[DFF53]

Hello mate, is it safe to assume you are red16v on fastfrogs.

Are the interior lights the two on each pillar as in normal bxes?
One thing to check is the switches on the door pillar itself, pop them out and see if there is current getting to it, i thing its just one allen screw to pop it out.

[prm]

That’s one of the joys of owning an ageing 16v with wiring to match, so don’t let these gremlins get you down. Several terminal connections/cables can be quite brittle.
It does sound as if you’ve possibly dislodged the timer supply, or feeds from ignition and door lock trigger circuits for the interior/pillar lights. You haven’t borrowed the supply for your ABS mod??

The pillar lights have two positive supplies. One permanent supply, for normal on- off, with ignition off, and one supply operated via a timer switch/relay, with door lock and ignition override circuits.

If you’ve got one door open warning light, try operating the internal door lock buttons to see if these warning lights indicate, as all four doors lock switches act as a path to earth/negative for each warning light. Also worth checking all the capsule bulbs.

Never had any problems with the light timer unit, but would suspect your permanent + supply to this unit.

Regards

[NZ16v]

thanks for replies, and yes i am Red16v on fasties, and NZ16v on BX16v site.
Had a poke around yesterday, found blown bulbs in door unit, thought 'whey hey', bought new ones,only to find the front doors still wouldnt work. I think its the unit, will check when im back at the spares depot As for timer delay, have removed it from dash, so it is removable via clock tray. It seems ok inside, no dry joints/moisture damage etc, but have brand new one at spares depot, and a big daddys brain, so will check ignition 12v feed to that etc next week. Lights have permanent feed all the time, doors open or closed, so somethings up. Will keep posted. I am amazed how much of a problem this is after doin a forum search, never had any issues till three days ago!!!!

[Tim Leech]

Welcome Alex!

[NZ16v]

Ok folks, dunno if this will help anyone, but it did for me. On the steering column is a bolt-on(10mm) central earth, for a bunch of stuff, including interior lights. Now when we repaired heater matrix, a lot of that crap got loosened/removed, in order to get tha bastard of a thing out, including the earth. I re-attached it, but missed an important issue- THERE ARE TWO OF THEM- one slides into the other, and then they bolt up. I only used one, hence half the plugs werent earthing. Added the extra earthing unit, problem solved, i now have perfect working interior lights. So if you have issues like this, check it, its an east thing to miss, as the plugs still attach to the earthing unit, just not earthing ALL the wires. Now onto the front door warning lights, will pull doors apart in a couple of weeks, need to actaully drive the thing for a bit

[kiwi]

I have only ever removed and reinstalled a dashboard in a BX twice in the last 20 odd years of ownership and both times it related to repairs to the heater matrix. Other than that it has been to remove the dash all together as parts.

One thing I have never forgotten is to label every cable as it gets detached.

On saying this I have a perfectly good uncracked Dashboard that my intention was to replace the one currently fitted and cracked in the usual palce. It still sits in the roof of my garage two years later